5 November 2025 - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Refugee

Florida was too big a state for just one post - and people keep moving there.  

I don't know why.

They have alligators. 

However, they also had Tom Petty and his Heartbreakers (from Gainsville), who had a TON of hits, including this Top 20 hit from their 1980 breakthrough album Damn The Torpedoes.  Co-written by Tom Petty and Mike Campbell, it was reportedly a tough song to record, with perfect being the enemy of good and a LOT of takes needed to get the song just right.

But they DID get it right, and the results brought us a raw, noisy, brash song. 

This song was a live favorite, and every time they did a benefit concert of some sort - like Farm Aid in 1985 (and Live Aid, too, by the way), this song was a staple.

Petty consistently said that this song was really hard on his voice.

And yet, in 2012, when they were STILL performing the song live, he STILL sang it largely in the same key.

5 November 2025 - Pitbull ft. TJR - Don't Stop The Party

Nowadays, big cities have more than one area code.  

Miami, FL is no exception.  

But it's usually more prestigious to have the original one, from when there was only one.

Miami's was 305.  

Mr. Worldwide is also Mr. 305.  

That's it.  That's the post.  

It's not actually the whole post.

Pitbull has made a career representing Miami and making fun pop/dance music.  He's not making a career winning awards (although he has plenty - including a Grammy for his 2016 album Dale which, for my English speakers, has two syllables), but rather, making fun, exciting music and putting on a hell of a show.

And you cannot deny it - this is a hell of a show. 

4 November 2025 - Chappell Roan - HOT TO GO!

Darin Chappell is a Republican member of the Missouri House of Representatives.  He represents the state's 137th House District - which is the Springfield, MO area.  

He's probably better known for being Chappell Roan's (maternal-side) uncle, though.  She grew up in Missouri....

.... so when it came time to record a video for the seventh and final single from her debut album, The Rise And Fall Of A Midwest Princess, it completely made sense that she'd be bringing it home to Springfield, MO - which is where this video was recorded.  Also, yes, those are really her grandparents.  No word if her uncle ended up on the cutting room floor.  

Also, this is a fun song.  C'mon now. AND IT HAS A DANCE!!!!

You know, there are a lot of live performances I could have chosen here.   

So why did I choose the one she did with Olivia Rodrigo in a guest starring appearance?

Because 1) Chappell Roan got her big break as Rodrigo's opening act - but this was well after that.  2) This looks like two old friends GENUINELY having fun together.   

3) I wanted to save this impressive performance from Reading 2025 with literally 90,000 people doing the dance for last.

3 November 2025 - Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe

Choctaw Ridge is a REAL place in Mississippi.  So, by the way, is the Tallahatchie Bridge - it goes over the river of the same name in Money, Mississippi.

Literally Bobbie Gentry on the Tallahatchie Bridge in 1967

Bobbie Gentry was a great country songwriter who wrote this song.  The cool Southern Gothic classic would provide the title for her debut album in 1967, and it would go on to become her biggest (although not nearly only) hit. It was a top 20 country hit in the United States, but more notably, it was a #1 pop hit, and the #3 biggest pop hit of 1967.  

"Ode To Billie Joe" also won three Grammy Awards for Gentry - including Best New Artist in 1968. Although she'd be nominated again, she'd never win another. 

The song was a massive success and defined the rest of Gentry's career.   This performance from the BBC, interspersed with footage of her on... probably the Tallahatchie Bridge.... was lost for years, but it isn't anymore, and we bring it to you.

Here's another live performance from The Andy Williams Show in the early 1970s.  Her cool, raspy voice matched well with the literal true crime drama she wrote.... and this performance is captivating. 

31 October 2025 - Michael Jackson - Thriller

The music gods smiled on us when we set the order for this list, which seems arbitrary but is not.

Today, they gave us Indiana, and of course The Jacksons are from Gary.   This includes the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, who had the biggest selling album of all time.  Its title song is the quintessential Halloween song.  

So yeah, we're doing that today.   

This song has been reentering the Billboard charts year after year.  Last year, it peaked at #20 and I expect it'll do the same this year by the time you read this.   It makes it on the charts everywhere, every year.  The song was huge in the 80s - a disco throwback at the time - and remains huge. 

I was never a huge fan of the song until I saw a live performance.  Michael really knew how to work a crowd, and does so masterfully in this 1998 performance in London.

30 October 2025 - Liz Phair - Supernova

Elizabeth Clark Phair was active on the cross country team and in student government at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois. 

Yep. Not a stage name.

This Grammy-nominated 1994 song, from her 2nd album Whip-Smart, got a fairly large amount of MTV airplay and represented her first visit to the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 78.  Her sweet spot was more the modern rock charts, and this was her biggest hit to date and in fact ever on those charts. 

The song is absolutely an exuberant exclamation of being in love.  

Why yes, she DID say the F word live and didn't just roll her eyes.

The woman literally wrote a song called "Fuck and Run", guys.  Of course she said it live. 

And when it's just her on an acoustic guitar...... yeah, she says it then, too.

But what about on the 2023 tour, celebrating the 30th anniversary of her debut album, Exile In Guyville?  Did she keep it clean?

No.

And, for the record, it opened her encore.  This song wasn't on that album, but since she opens most shows that aren't album tributes with this song, it made sense to play it. 

29 October 2025 - Conway Twitty - It's Only Make Believe

Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Conway Twitty.  

That was his original 1958 recording, which would reach #1 on the US Country AND Pop Charts.  He would never make the top 20 on the pop charts again, but would go on to post more than 30 #1s on the country charts through the late 1980.... and made some big hits into the 1990s, right until his death in 1993.  

By the way, if the sound seems Elvis-influenced, it's because The Jordanaires provided background vocals.  It's also in a rockabilly style, which served Twitty well throughout his career. 

Co-written by Jack Nance and Twitty, this song by the Arkansas native would remain his signature song throughout his career. In fact, here he is performing the song in 1990.... a full 32 years after its initial hit run.

Here he is in 1969 performing it.  By the way, his performances are pretty consistent, no? His voice was huge right until the end AND throughout his life. 

He also had a lot of humility about his biggest hit song, and frequently collaborated on covers of it (which ended up being hits in their own right), such as this mid-80's collaboration with Canadian country star Carroll Baker.